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What do you think of my interpretation of the story of the Canaanite woman?
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andros_rex lemmy.world andros_rex@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-13
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I think the point is that Christ does fail here. That if God is becoming “like us” - trying to understand us, trying to maybe see why we fail and then ultimately deciding above all to redeem us - that he’s kinda a racist jerk at one point, is called out on it, and changes is maybe the point.

“Even the dogs deserve the crumbs.”

She acknowledges it. She calls it for what it is. She turns the other cheek. Like Judah and Tamar, the Son of Man has to admit he’s been outplayed. They’ve failed to be kind, they’ve not even followed their own rules (dogs and crumbs reminds me of widows and orphans protected right to the cast offs of the fields.)

(Similarly, cursing the fig tree? Have we all not been hangry?)

I think it is safe to say that Jesus was a jerk in this story. I think Matthew above all shows us a human Jesus, a Jesus who can save us because he knows us. He must ultimately concede defeat - he must say, look at how this woman has shown that she is not Less Than You, a reverse image of David and Goliath - redemption instead of death.

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